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Slavoj Žižek

Populism as a way to disavow social antagonism

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Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek on social antagonism and populism

Student organization/freethinkers collective 't Zal Wel Gaan and Vooruit are bringing Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek to Ghent - as part of the Antagonistic Festival. He is affiliated with the University of Ljubljana, New York and London and has published numerous books on various topics such as German idealism, ideology criticism, film theory, psychoanalysis and even quantum physics.

The general public mainly knows Žižek for his analyses of popular culture and his criticism of capitalism. Using different frames of reference he hands us challenging insights and new perspectives. In Ghent, he will speak about social antagonism and populism.
How should we deal with the multitude of conflicting interests in a society? What can it mean for a political movement to acknowledge social antagonism? In times where (right-wing) populism finds so many supporters, we can ask ourselves whether progressive political movements should start using the same strategies if they want to be successful, but, according to Žižek, populism undermines social antagonism.

The lecture will be introduced by Jan De Vos, post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences (University of Ghent). After the lecture, Gertrudis Van de Vijver, professor of philosophy at the University of Ghent, will have an open discussion with Žižek.